to urge reasons against; protest against (a scheme, purpose, etc.).
3.
to depreciate; belittle.
4.
Archaic. to pray for deliverance from.
Origin: 1615–25; < L dēprecātus prayed against, warded off (ptp. of dēprecārī), equiv. to dē-de-+ prec(ārī) to pray+ -ātus-ate1
Related forms:
dep⋅re⋅cat⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
dep⋅re⋅ca⋅tion, noun
dep⋅re⋅ca⋅tor, noun
Synonyms: 1.condemn, denounce, disparage. See decry.
Usage note: An early and still the most current sense of deprecate is “to express disapproval of.” In a sense development still occasionally criticized by a few, deprecate has come to be synonymous with the similar but etymologically unrelated word depreciate in the sense “belittle”: The author modestly deprecated the importance of his work. In compounds with self-,deprecate has almost totally replaced depreciate in modern usage: Her self-deprecating account of her career both amused and charmed the audience.
Computer Science To mark (a component of a software standard) as obsolete to warn against its use in the future so that it may be phased out.
[Latin dēprecārī, dēprecāt-, to ward off by prayer : dē-, de- + precārī, to pray; see prek- in Indo-European roots.] dep're·cat'ing·ly adv., dep're·ca'tion n., dep're·ca'tor n.
Usage Note: Deprecate originally meant "to pray in order to ward off something, ward off by prayer." Perhaps because the occasion of such prayers was invariably one of dread, the word developed the more general meaning of disapproval, as in this quotation from Frederick Douglass, "Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground." From here it was a small step to add the meaning "to make little of, disparage," what was once the proper meaning of depreciate. This meaning of depreciate appears to have been overwhelmed by the word's use in the world of finances, where it means "to diminish (or cause to diminish) in price or value." In similar fashion, the "disparage" sense of deprecate may be driving out the word's other uses. In our 2002 survey, only 50 percent of the Usage Panel accepted deprecate when it meant "to express disapproval of" in the sentence He advocates a well-designed program of behavior modification and deprecates the early use of medication to address behavioral problems. Moreover, a similar example in the same survey elicited the same split in opinions among Panelists: He acknowledged that some students had been wronged by the board's handling of the matter and deprecated the board's decision to intervene. It seems clear, then, that the Panel has very mixed feelings about the use of deprecate to mean "disapprove of." But a great majority of Panelists accept deprecate when used to mean "make little of, disparage." Fully 78 percent accepted the example He deprecated his own contribution to the success of the project, claiming that others had done just as much. It may be that the widespread use of the word in the compound adjective self-deprecating has helped bolster this use of the verb.
[dep-ri-keyt] 
